I started out collecting fig trees, then I started growing other things.
VdB and Negronne are not the same, then again it would depend on if you have the real one of each, like there is at least one nursery that sells it under one name and labels it as the other. yet they are said to be so alike that many people do not care which they get or sell under what name, Negronne is more cold hardy than Violet de bordeaux. Figs of Negronne they produce sweeter figs than Violet de Bordeaux.
I agree, just from reading these kinds of observations. My Negronne suffered this Winter but it was put in late and should have been pruned down at the beginning (11 months ago). (I’m new to all things orchard.) Nevertheless, it is coming back from up on the stem and my VdB could never do that. Burnt Ridge sells a VdB/N which I think is an VdB. A guy on Fig4Fun had what really seemed like it was an N and he got it from One Green World so, so did I. We’ll see. I hope I have both because both are rated ‘excellent’ by many.
The longer a tree is in the ground before the winter the better it will do in the winter, the more established the roots are, the harder the wood is, the thicker the wood is means the more cold hardy, a fig tree grows much faster in the ground than in a pot. With age a fig tree’s wood hardness and thickness increases as well so a fig tree that has been in the ground three years will have grown more cold hardiness than one seeing it’s first or second winter. To do a very accurate comparison they would have to be put in the ground at the same time, be the same age, about the same size in the same soil. So sometimes the most cold hardy can seem like the least cold hardy for many reasons, like you have said a part of cold hardiness is not only about how much damage there is, it’s also how well does it grow back when there is damage.